TOLERANCE AND SOLIDARITY .
A press release from Amnesty International France (translated by CPNN)
This Wednesday, February 14, Martine Landry, activist of Amnesty International France (AIF) and Anafé (National Border Assistance Association for Foreigners), will appear in the Nice Criminal Court. She is accused of having “facilitated the entry of two illegal foreign minors”. She faces up to five years in prison and a fine of € 30,000.
AIF and Anafé denounce the persecution of people whose only motivation is to assist migrants and refugees, with no other consideration than to have their rights respected.
Photo of Martine Landry from France3
These people are not traffickers or delinquents; they are worried, intimidated, pursued, defending human rights first and foremost. They act to protect the rights of migrants and refugees against the infringement by the French authorities.
It is urgent and essential that the French government’s policy be reoriented in order to respond to the imperative respect for the rights of migrant and refugee people crossing the Franco-Italian border and the necessary protection of those who help them. .
Amnesty International France and Anafé reiterate their support for Martine Landry and will be present at the trial.
Further information
Martine Landry has been a member of Amnesty International since 2002. She is also the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur regional referee on the issue of refugees and migrants since 2011 and is in charge of an observation mission in a waiting area for AIF. . At the same time, she takes part in the militant missions of counseling to the asylum seekers and accompaniment to give them access to their rights. For these missions she benefited from several formations.
Moreover, apart from her activities for AIF, Martine Landry is involved in various local and national associations for the defense of migrants and refugees including Anafé.
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(Click here for the original French version of this article)
The refugee crisis, Who is responsible?
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Working with Anafé for many years as part of her observation mission in the waiting area for AIF, Martine Landry has been a member of Anafé since 2017. She is actively involved in the observation mission of the Anafé at the French-Italian border.
She is accused of having “facilitated the entry of two illegal foreign minors”. She faces up to five years in prison and a fine of € 30,000.
Summary of facts
On 28 July 2017, Italian police sent two unaccompanied foreign minors to France on foot. Martine Landry picked them up at the Menton / Ventimiglia border crossing on the French side to accompany them to the Border Police (PAF), with documents attesting to their request for support by the child welfare service (ASE). The two minors, both 15 years old and of Guinean origin, were subsequently taken over by the ASE.
On July 31, Martine Landry went to the PAF Menton following the arrest and transfer of eleven migrants. On that day, she received a convocation for an audition on August 2nd. The next day, Martine Landry receives a summons from the Nice Criminal Court. She was to be tried on January 8 for “facilitating the entry of two illegal foreign minors […], having taken care of and escorted these two minors from the Italian border crossing to the border crossing on the French side”. His hearing was postponed until February 14, 2018.
Applicable international law
On 29 October 2002, France ratified the Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air, additional to the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime. This text defines the smuggling of migrants as “the act of securing, directly or indirectly, a financial or other material benefit, unlawful entry into a State …”. a person who is neither a national nor a permanent resident of that State “.
By making the provision of a financial or other material benefit, the authors of this text clearly intended to exclude the activities of persons providing assistance to migrants on humanitarian grounds or because of close family ties. The intent of the Protocol was not to criminalize the activities of family members or support groups such as religious or non-governmental organizations. This intention is confirmed by the preparatory work for the negotiations for the elaboration of the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and the Protocols thereto (2008), p. 514 – (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Preparatory Work).
Amnesty International’s investigation at the French-Italian border “Border controls of the law”: .